Carnival World Boxed Set (Episodes 1-3) (17 page)

“What?” Darien frowned.

“On the football team. Your dad was quarterback, same as you. My dad was the second quarterback.”

“Not like you.”

Ryan shrugged. He knew Darien said it out of reflex, but it didn’t hit him wrongly like it normally would have. “Yeah well my old man never got to play a down in high school. But he keeps talking about that time like it was the best years of his life. As soon as I was old enough to know what a back-up was well...,”

“I’m sorry,” Darien mumbled.

Ryan was surprised by the apology, especially since it came for something his own father had done. Maybe Darien knew about crappy fathers.

“Don’t be. I realized I didn’t want to be him, ever. My best days are ahead of me.”

“If you say so.” Darien went back to hauling out the battery and putting in the new one.

“I don’t even blame you,” he said after a few moments of silence.

Darien frowned. “Blame me for what?”

“Just being you, the prince of the town. The heir to the throne. You didn’t have to do anything and you were already the most popular kid in school.”

“You don’t know anything about it.” Darien fiddled with something on the battery. “Hold this, will ya? So we can be done with this and with this conversation.”

Ryan joined him at the engine. He held the wire Darien showed him, while he went to get a wrench. “Hey enjoy it while you can, Burton. Maybe you’ll win state like you’re dad. Maybe you’ll get to play big time college ball like he did. Maybe you’ll even make an NFL team and bounce around for a few years as a third stringer. But what then?”

A loud creak sounded above him. And thank god for that or he wouldn’t have had any indication that the hood was going to come down and nearly slice his hand off. He got it out just in time.

He turned and looked at Darien who gaped at him.

“Jesus, man, that was close.”

Ryan just nodded, too freaked out to respond. He knew it was just an mishap, things like that happened all the time, but there was a ball of fear churning in his gut that told him it hadn’t been an accident at all.

After the new battery had been installed into the vehicle, Darien tried the engine. It started but sputtered then stopped. Disappointment flooded him like wildfire.

“Maybe it’s the starter,” Ryan suggested.

Darien slid out of the Range Rover and walked past Ryan toward the big bay door.

“Where are you going?” Ryan demanded.

“A walk.”

Summer and Sam came into the garage along with the twins, just as he left. He passed Nicole on the way out.

“Where are you going?”

“Just leave me alone, okay?”

Darien stormed off. He kept going till he was at the edge of the lot. There a steep ditch full of granite rocks ran along the old fence. He had an urge to jump down into that ditch and just keep going.

Why was he so mad? Why were his hands shaking with fury?

He didn’t get it. Nicole was right. This should make him happy. Even if it was messed up it was still the auto yard. It was his family’s place.  When his father died, he’d own it. He even recognized the Range Rover. It was the same one his dad had posed with during a local commercial. The vehicle had been a favorite of his dad’s.

He loved it here. Well, except for when he was with his dad. His dad would always tell him keep working, don’t slack off. He’d ride Darien all the time. Even when Darien was busy he’d tell him to work harder. One time he asked his dad what the deal was.

“I don’t want you to end up here,” he’d said.

Darien didn’t understand. This place was awesome as far as he was concerned. And he was good at it. He understood the business and the cars. Even old Paul said Darien was a natural.

When Darien had told his father this his father snorted.

“Paul is a lifer. He’s never going to be anything more than a car salesman.”

Darien had been stunned. “What’s wrong with that?”

His dad had grabbed him by the shirt front and stared him in the eye. “You don’t settle. Not for this. You deserve the best, Darien. But you can’t settle for second best. I know it seems like I’m hard on you. I wish somebody had been there to be hard on me sometimes.”

Then he’d watched his dad drive off in the Range Rover and suddenly felt empty inside. His father had said he deserved the best. Darien thought he already had the best. He didn’t want for anything. He was King of high school and the town. He could have anything he wanted and anyone he wanted. He lived in a big house, and drove a nice car, and had money for luxuries. What could be better than that?

Darien didn’t have an answer then, and he didn’t have one now.

But being in this place again didn’t make him happy; it made him sick to his stomach. The faster they were out of there, the better.

When he returned to the garage, he saw that the sliding bay door was down. That was odd. Why would the group do that? As he got closer he could hear the rev of a motor. Had they gotten the Range Rover started without him?

Darien ran to the door and reaching down for the handle tried to lift it, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried again to no avail. He banged on it.

“Hey, open the door.”

But no one did, and no one answered.

He went to the window alongside the door and peered into the bay. The Range Rover was definitely running. He could hear the noise loud and clear, and see the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe.

Running a vehicle inside a closed space was dangerous. That was how some people committed suicide, by inhaling the deadly carbon monoxide fumes.

He banged on the window. “Hey!” and that was when he saw Summer’s sneakers, and her legs. She was passed out on the ground near the vehicle. Sam was next to her. Then it was clear to him, that they were all passed out on the floor.

“Jesus!”

Darien spied a loose piece of tailpipe on the ground. He grabbed it and swung it as hard as he could at the window. The glass shattered on impact even as the metal vibrated violently in his hands.

He broke enough glass that he could fit through the frame. A piece cut his arm as he pushed through. He crouched by the bay door and grabbed the handle to lift it. It still wouldn’t budge.

He looked at it, and saw it wasn’t locked. There was nothing that he could see that was blocking it, but still it wouldn’t budge. Something was holding it down. Something he couldn’t see. But he sure could feel it.

“Let go!” he shouted. “Let go of it!”

Darien dug deep inside, mustered every ounce of strength and will and pulled on the door. Finally it lifted.

He took a deep breath. A wave of foul smelling air washed over him and out the door. Turning, he checked on them one by one. Carbon Monoxide poison was deadly. It could kill instantly. But luckily they were all breathing. Summer and Ryan were even starting to move around.

“What the hell? Why would you run the rover inside? So stupid.” Darien looked inside the car to turn it off, but he saw the keys weren’t even in the ignition and there was nothing depressing the gas pedal.

“We didn’t start it,” Summer gasped as she hugged Sam to her. He was crying.

“What the hell?”

The car lurched forward. Darien backed away from it.  It lurched forward again. Then it turned right towards him.

“Shit!”

Darien ran.

The rover leapt after him like a hungry lion, roaring and snorting. Darien fled back out into the lot, running as fast as he could. The Range Rover lunged but missed him by a hair. It smashed into one of the other cars and caved in its side.

Darien looked around the lot. All the other cars were crushed in a similar manner. It was obvious this wasn’t the first time the vehicle had played chicken with someone.

He shook his head in disbelief. “No. This can’t be happening.”

The Range Rover slowly backed away from the wreck, then turned toward him as if glaring at him.

Without another thought, Darien ran. He sprinted as fast as his legs could move. He thought of being out on the football field and ran right into the maze of wrecked cars. He maneuvered his way around them. Behind him was a crash as the Range Rover smashed its way towards him, hitting one car after another to get to him.

Darien made it to the fence on the edge of the lot. Beyond it was the ditch. He had one chance if he was going to survive.

Darien turned and waited, his heart pounding. Sweat dripped down his back and his forehead. He wiped it out of his eyes just as the Range Rover came barreling down towards him.

Darien waited, staring into the angry headlights of the oncoming vehicle. It was just like football. You had to feel the pressure coming. You had to time your move just right.

One Mississippi. Two Mississippi.

Darien dove to the other side.

The Range Rover crashed through the gate and ended in the ditch. Its front end caved in on contact with the granite rocks. The engine sputtered once, then twice and until finally it died.

Darien picked himself up off the ground. He’d landed wrong on his elbow, and it ached something fierce. He loomed over the ditch and watched the rear tires of the car spin around and then slowly squeak to a stop.

It was over.

As he continued to look down in the ditch, the others had come out to join him. Summer stepped up next to him; she was rubbing at her eyes. The carbon monoxide was still probably making her feel drowsy and sick.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He nodded. He didn’t know what else to do or say. There were no words for what had just happened.

“The car went nuts, didn’t it?” Sam looked up at him, his eyes wide and round and worried.

Darien wanted to placate him, tell him everything was okay. That no, cars don’t go nuts. Cars don’t move on their own. But he’d be wrong.

“Let’s get what we need and get the hell out of here.”

No one said anything else as they all walked back to the garage together. There were knowing looks passed between each other, but no one wanted to say it out loud.

It wasn’t just mutated dogs and crazy cannibals that they had to do battle with in this world. It was their own pasts. And how did a person fight with that?

CARNIVAL WORLD, episode 4 will be released January 15, 2014.

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BOUT THE AUTHORS
:

Michael J Lee
has worked as a creative executive and screenwriter. He's currently a script judge and consultant.

Website:
http://screenwritingfoxhole.blogspot.com/

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T
awny Stokes
has always been a writer.  From an early age, she’d spin tales of serial killers in love, vampires taking over the world, and sometimes about fluffy bunnies turned bunnicidal maniacs.  An honour student in high school, with a penchant for math and English, you’d never know it by the foot high blue Mohawk and Doc Martens, which often got her into trouble.  No longer a Mohawk wearer, Tawny still enjoys old school punk rock, trance, zombie movies, teen horror films, and fluffy bunnies.  She lives in Canada with her fantastical daughter, two cats, and spends most of her time creating new stories for teens.

Tawny also writes adult paranormal/urban fantasy fiction under the name Vivi Anna, and is a screenwriter and TV writer.

Website:
http://www.tawnystokes.com

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THER WORKS BY THE AUTHORS:

Michael J Lee

My Frankenstein

To Russia With Blood

How to Invade The Earth
http://howtoinvadetheearth.blogspot.com/

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awny Stokes

Static

Electric

Demons of the Rich and Famous

Dating After Dark (With Clowns)